


The Tenor of Torture

by totorokiicequeen



Category: Alex Rider - Anthony Horowitz
Genre: AR Febuwhump (Alex Rider), Cutting, bon appetite, had a breakdown, most of this was written at like 12am or after, oh also little to no editing, started making it, use of stun gun
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-18 06:07:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29605023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/totorokiicequeen/pseuds/totorokiicequeen
Summary: Alex attends the opera but that's only the beginning of his torture.Day 21 of AR Febuwhump!
Comments: 9
Kudos: 22
Collections: AR Febuwhump 2021





	The Tenor of Torture

**Author's Note:**

> The ending is pretty rushed in this so sorry in advance!  
> Just two people I want to thank, Hellacious for filling me in on how cuts work and Lil-Lupin for giving me the awesome title, y'all are real ones!

Alex cursed himself for agreeing to scope out the opera for Mrs. Jones. At the time it seemed like it would be an easy job. Arrive in time for the show, listen to the first Act of Verdi’s Otello and snoop around for the next three. He hadn’t thought about just how boring the first act would be, at least for him anyway.  


Come to think of it, it was very convenient that there were no adult agents apart from two desks agents with basic training available for the task. Maybe Jones was right and a bored teen at the opera wouldn’t be too conspicuous but Alex still couldn’t shake the feeling that this was her way of trying to get him back in the spying game. He continued on, looking for the supposed deal that Jones said was to occur at the opera, all the while muttering under his breath.  


Alex rounded the corner and was momentarily distracted by a heated argument that was occurring at the second entrance to the auditorium. It appeared that a guest had arrived late to the performance and the steward was trying to explain that they would have to wait until a suitable time in act two to enter.  


Suddenly Alex felt the familiar feeling of metal against his neck. Great, Alex thought. So much for an easy job. Things seemed bad before but they were just about to get worse.  


‘Turn around and walk straight towards the exit. Don’t make eye contact and don’t speak to anyone. Is that understood?’, an unfamiliar voice whispered.  


Alex nodded. He made no attempts to disobey. For once MI6 had placed agents on standby outside the opera. They could handle this. Alex felt the hope of help leave his body as soon as they stepped outside of the theatre. There on the ground were the bodies of the agents assigned to help Alex if things took a turn. Not good, Alex noted as a burlap sack was placed over his head.  


* * *

The bag was lifted off of Alex’s head and he took a deep breath grateful for the uninterrupted air. Alex shifted slightly on the chair he was bound to. Whoever had tied him to the chair wasn’t taken any chances. The binds were bound tightly against Alex’s wrists, allowing only the slightest of blood flow to go through. Enough that he wouldn’t lose feeling in his hands but tight enough that they were sure to cut into his wrists.  
He managed a quick glance around his surroundings, some form of abandoned warehouse, before a man entered the room.  


‘Hello Alex, my name is Raoul.’  


Alex tried to pinpoint Raoul’s accent but he seemed to switch easily between four or five without even realising. Alex doubted the man had stayed in one place long enough to fully embrace one accent.  


‘What do you want with me?’ Alex asked.  


There must be some reason he had taken him, though Alex couldn’t imagine what for. Sure he had agreed to scope out the opera but other than that he hadn’t done any MI6 work in months and certainly wasn’t aware of any details of operations.  


‘Now now, Alex, no need to rush. After all there’s nowhere you can go’, Raoul smirked. ‘As for what I want from you that’ll become clear in time. I think some explaining is needed first though.’  


Alex sighed. Great, another monologue to add to the countless others he’d heard.  


‘Wasn’t the opera torture enough?’ Alex groaned before he could stop himself.  


There was no time for Alex to prepare for the backhand that resulted from that comment. Raoul’s hand connected squarely with Alex’s cheek. The sting made all the worse by the rings that Raoul wore. Alex only realised that he had bitten the inside of his cheek as he coughed up the blood that was beginning to fill his mouth.  


‘I’m a patient man Alex, but I draw the line at insulting me and above all else opera. But, I wouldn’t expect a mere schoolboy like you to understand.’  


Alex understood perfectly well. Raoul was just another rich man who enjoyed the luxuries that came with the territory. He was a bit tired of the rich man card if he was honest with himself. Alex wondered what it would be like dealing with a different class of criminal. In truth he hoped to never find out but knowing his luck he most likely would.  


‘Now back to the reason for you being here. McCain, you remember him yes?’, Raoul asked.  


Alex gulped and nodded his head. He hadn’t been able to get the image of McCain’s demise out of his head for months. Even now it haunted his nights every so often.  


‘Excellent. I was very much intrigued by McCain’s virus and thought it a truly fantastic plan. Although I myself wouldn’t have bothered with getting donations to “fix” the problem but such was his charity front. So, you can imagine my disappointment when I heard that his plan had failed all because of one schoolboy.’  


‘If you think you’re going to get the inside scoop on McCain from me then I’m afraid I’m about to disappoint you again. I don’t know anything about his virus and McCain is dead so good luck getting anything from him either,’ Alex responded.  


Raoul smiled. The look didn’t suit him and Alex could only describe it as Grinch like in nature.  


‘I have no intention of getting, what was it you said…the inside scoop on McCain. I have already conducted my own research in that area.’  


‘Then what do you want from me?’ Alex asked puzzled.  


‘It’s not what I want from you, it’s what I want to prevent you from doing. You were the downfall in McCain’s plans so the logical solution would be to eliminate the threat,’ Raoul replied nonchalantly.  


Eliminate. Alex didn’t like the sound of that. He began fidgeting in the chair but it only made the binds close tighter against his wrists and cut in more sharply.  


‘Yes, you will have to be eliminated. But first, I’m going to have my fun with you. Unfortunately for me, I don’t like getting my hands dirty so I’ll leave you to André. I’m sure the two of you will become the best of friends,’ Raoul explained. ‘I’ll be here watching, but I’m afraid this is goodbye Alex.’  


Raoul nodded at André as he made his way out of the room. Alex couldn’t help but think that in some ways the two were alike. Alex a puppet to MI6 while André was a puppet to Raoul. But at least Alex was safe in the knowledge that he would never torture and purposely kill someone, least of all a child. As André drew closer Alex closed his eyes and tensed for the beating that was about to come. It never did.  


After a minute or so Alex dared to open his eyes. What he saw made his stomach turn. There was no mistaking the sound of the knife being unsheathed or the glisten as the light refracted off the knife. Alex realised that this would be much worse then the beating he had thought was about to happen. He could handle being a punchbag for awhile but this? He wasn’t even sure what André would do to him.  


‘Please, just let me go. I promise I won’t get in the way,’ Lie, Alex thought to himself. ‘He doesn’t have to control you!’ Alex pleaded.  


André ignored Alex. Alex knew it was a long shot but he had hoped that his age may soften André. Clearly he had no issues torturing children. Alex was just about to ask what André had planned for him when his forearm began to sear with pain.  


Alex looked down. There on his arm was a cut about an inch in length and a quarter of an inch in depth. The bright red blood began to trickle out from the wound before becoming a steady flow of red dripping down his arm. Alex had no time to adjust to the pain before André cut into his skin once more, just above the bleeding wound. Alex was sure of André’s plan now. Death by a thousand cuts, Alex had only ever seen it done in film but right now it felt exactly as bad as how it sounded.  


As André continued on his cutting crusade, Alex’s screams only grew in volume. The pain was close to unbearable and the river of blood flowing from every available bit of skin was beginning to pool on the floor by his feet.  


Alex began taking a shaky breath, steadying himself for another quick slice of the knife through his skin but it didn’t come. He managed to find the energy to look at André. He wished he hadn’t.  


At some point André had moved from Alex to a nearby table in the room. The knife gone out of his hands, replaced with a…bottle? Alex eyed it cautiously. It seemed to contain a clear liquid. Alex wondered if maybe André was having second thoughts about torturing a child. Or maybe he was giving Alex water in order to hear the fruits of his labour. Alex’s throat was getting drier by the minute and soon he would have no voice left from all the screams. He’d dare say that Raoul and André probably got off on hearing him in pain and would do their upmost to keep it that way.  


In retrospect, Alex would’ve preferred to continue being sliced as if he were a piece of meat. What actually happened was far worse. André sauntered over with the bottle, opened it and poured its contents over Alex. The sharp sting alerted Alex to the fact that the liquid was pure alcohol and not water like he’d thought, like he’d hoped. The stinging began to die down and the bottle was empty, would André go back to cutting Alex to shreds? Alex hoped not but prepared for the worst.  


Suddenly there was a clanging sound coming from above Alex. He looked up and that’s when he saw them. The tiny circles built into the ceiling. Sprinklers. They seemed to drip slowly before exploding like fireworks, dosing the place with what they contained.  


At first Alex felt nothing. Then his whole body felt as if it were on fire. He screamed out in agony, tears streaming down his face. The water had been replaced with alcohol and each drop drove deep into the open wounds on Alex’s body. Alex’s vision began to blur, dots appearing in front of him, from the pain and blood loss. He just managed to see someone come in with a syringe and suture kit to stitch up the stinging wounds before he passed out. A small mercy. 

* * *

A familiar voice caused Alex to wake. He had no idea how long he had been unconscious for. A day? A week? It was anyone’s guess. But what disturbed him most was the voice that had awoken him. The last time he’d heard that voice had been on Air Force One and there was no possible way he could be hearing it now.  


Alex opened his eyes. Standing there before him was Yassen Gregorovich. But that wasn’t possible, was it?  


‘Yassen? But…you’re dead…you died…I-,’ Alex stuttered.  


‘Shh, I am here to get you out.’ Yassen said as calculated as ever.  


Alex still didn’t quite believe that Yassen was really here. He saw the man die, hell he saw him take his last breath. Alex’s confusion must have been pretty obvious as Yassen immediately filled Alex in on the details.  


‘Did you really think that someone like Damien Cray could kill me? No, I had to disappear and I saw my opportunity on Air Force One. But for now, it is time to get you out of here.’  


Alex had never been so happy to see the assassin in his life. Perhaps his luck was about to change and maybe he would make it out of this place in one piece.  


Yassen untied the binds that had now cut round the skin on Alex’s wrists and Alex rotated his wrists grateful for the blood flow to be back in them. Yassen waved at Alex to follow him and Alex did just that. He had no other way of escaping this place and after all the man had taken a bullet for Alex, surely that meant Alex could trust him.  


He followed Yassen into the next room. It was dark apart from one or two barely operable lights flickering. It wasn’t until Alex heard the shrill sound of a lock being scraped across the door that he realised something was wrong.  


As Yassen turned Alex saw the man’s facial features turn from somewhat approachable to stone cold.  


‘Let us talk about that day,’ Yassen stated.  


‘What?’ Alex asked, confused at the mans sudden change in mood and demeanour.  


‘How you let Cray shoot me and did nothing.’  


‘I-I, there was nothing I could do, I had no idea that-,’ Alex began.  


‘You had no idea that a madman had the potential of shooting someone? That someone being me.’ Yassen interrupted.  


Alex took a step back as Yassen started making steps towards him. This couldn’t be happening. Yassen was here to help him. He had taken that bullet to ensure Alex would survive. Alex was almost certain of this fact and yet his thoughts began to drift.  


‘But you-,’  


‘But, I what? I did it to save you? Is that what you thought? No, Alex. I died because you could not save me, not because I was saving you. It is your fault that I died,’ Yassen replied curtly.  


‘It’s-it’s not my fault,’ Alex faultered.  


Alex thought back to that time on Air Force One. Yassen had refused to shoot Alex, sealing his own fate. Alex had had no part to play in it. Sure he was there, but Yassen had the opportunity to carry through with Cray’s instructions. It wasn’t his fault that he hadn’t was it?  


‘Maybe you could not have stopped the shot being taken but did you do anything to stop the resulting blood loss? No. You could have saved me Alex. Hunter would have saved me but then again you are not him nor will you ever be him,’ Yassen uttered as he stepped even closer to Alex.  


‘Well you’re still alive so what does it matter!’Alex exclaimed.  


‘Oh it matters a great deal, Alex. I am but one life. One life that you could not save so how, tell me, do you think you could possibly save everyone?’  


‘What do you mean everyone?’Alex questioned.  


‘As we speak, a modified version of McCain’s virus is being dispersed into the air. I wonder how you plan on saving, what were their names again, Jack and Tom?’ Yassen sneered.  


Alex dropped to his knees with his back against the wall. Yassen was right. How could he save everyone when he couldn’t even save Yassen that day? And now, he was stuck here with no way of getting to Jack and Tom and the millions of others who would affected. Alex began shaking as every thought from past missions of who he could’ve spared came back to him. Tears streamed down his face.  


‘I would save your tears if I were you Alex. I have not even begun to take my revenge. What was it that Shakespeare wrote? A pound of flesh? I think that should be sufficient,’ Yassen grinned.  


The knife in Yassen’s hand glistened as it hit a section of light. Alex only became aware of the knife as the point touched his skin, cold and metallic. He sprung back to life. There was no way he could let it end here. He would beg if he had to.  


‘Wait! No! STOP!’, Alex pleaded.  


The lights flickered on in an instant. Ultra bright white. And just like that Yassen was gone. Standing where Yassen had been was André, all in white, with a syringe pointed at Alex.  


‘What…what was that? What did you do to me?’ Alex cried.  


‘It’s amazing what the mind will come up with when aided by a hallucinogenic drug,’ Raoul’s voiced echoed over the intercom. ‘And it would seem you had plenty of demons to choose from.’  


Alex was shaking. He’d faced countless madmen and experienced things that no child of his age should ever have to but he had always been safe in the knowledge that his mind was his own. His sacred space, off-limits. And now? The thought that Raoul could easily make Alex experience his darkest thoughts whenever he felt like it made Alex anxious. There was no way Alex could attempt any sort of rest for fear those ugly thoughts would perk their heads up from the darkness. Whether by Raoul’s doing or by Alex’s own doing.  


A shadow loomed over Alex. André stood before him, arms outstretched with white clothing draped over them. The clothes were clearly meant for Alex and he made no attempt to argue. He took off the shirt and pants that he’d been wearing at the opera, not that there was much of them left and began pulling on the white t-shirt and pants that were provided. Alex winced as the cloth ran over the freshly sewn wounds on his body.  


André motioned for Alex to follow him. He lead Alex to another door. Alex stood in front of the door until André gestured for Alex to open it. Slowly, Alex turned the doorknob and peeked inside. There was nothing there except a mattress in one corner. It was only when Alex realised that the entire room was white, not a single colour in sight that André shoved Alex in the back causing him to stumble into the room. The door quickly shut and locked behind him.  


* * *

Alex had long since lost count of the number of days he had been held in this room. In his defence it was impossible to tell the passage of time in the room, there were no windows and the bright white lights were kept on constantly making it hard for Alex to get any form of sleep. The one thing that Alex was sure of was that once a day, André would come to deliver food. He would enter in his white uniform, lay the tray down with the usual dry white rice on the ground for Alex to wolf down in seconds before collecting the tray and leaving.  


A split second. That’s all Alex would have to get passed André and through the door that was always kept unlocked as Alex ate. One second to ensure his freedom, and Alex was going to take it.  


André entered the room as usual. Just as he was beginning to bend down to place the tray on the ground Alex made a dash for the door. He was so close, the handle was a fingertips reach away. Alex couldn’t believe his luck. Freedom at last!  


That was until he felt the fingers curl around his neck and violently pull him back. Alex was caught off balance and rolled a few paces on the ground before stopping. Before Alex even got the chance to get back up he could feel André on top of him. Knee pressed in to the small of his back. As Alex moved, he caught a glimpse of the device in André’s hand. Compact and white to fit the theme, it took Alex all of a second to realise what it was.  


‘Wait no! Please I won’t do it again!’ Alex begged.  


But too late. Alex cried out in pain as the volts from the stun gun shot through his body. There was nothing he could do but lay there as André left the room. Alex dragged himself to the bed in the corner. It would be another couple of minutes before he would get the courage to attempt to stand again. Alex had hoped his plan might work but now he just felt hopeless. There was no way he was getting out of here. Well, no way he was getting out of here that didn’t involve a body bag.  


The routine remained the same. André came in, dropped the food and left. Alex made no more escape attempts, it was clear they wouldn’t work anyway. In the last few days Alex could feel himself slipping more and more away from reality. André didn’t talk and so Alex had began talking to himself. And then the voices in his head. He thought Raoul must want him driven mad before disposing of him. Alex supposed one mad ex-spy teenager was probably a lot easier to eliminate than a normal ex-spy teenager.  


Alex figured it wouldn’t be long now until Raoul decided enough was enough. With each passing day Alex’s demons came more and more to the front of his mind. In the beginning it was nightmares during the small moments he got of sleep, now it had progressed to daytime hallucinations. And these ones weren’t caused by any drug. Alex’s days were numbered but at this point he wished Raoul would just get it over and done with. Alex no longer wanted to live. How could he? He had way too much blood on his hands. No, much better for everyone if he just disappeared for life.  


Like clockwork, the door unlocked and André walked in. He set the tray down and Alex warily walked over to it. Alex didn’t trust that André wouldn’t just use the stun gun for no reason. He may be slightly mad but he hadn’t disregarded all of his instincts. Alex had just picked the tray up when he heard the faint noise of someone tapping on the door.  


Both Alex and André looked at each other curiously. Raoul had never shown any interest in coming down but Alex thought maybe it was his time and Raoul wanted to be the one to end it all for Alex.  


André crossed the few paces of the room to the door and opened it. Alex couldn’t see who was in the door and no one had said a word so he couldn’t even be sure it was Raoul. It was only when Alex really looked at André that he noticed it. A grey circle in the left side of the mans back, growing bigger by each passing second. It took a couple of minutes for Alex to realise that the growing circle was blood and that it was in fact red and not grey. The colour was astonishing against the white that Alex had grown accustomed to seeing.  


Alex couldn’t quite make out who was in the doorway, except for that they were male. Alex supposed that the fact they hadn’t pointed the gun at him was a good sign but he knew his luck. Alex was just about to ask the man what he wanted when the mystery man took off the helmet and black mask that he was wearing.  


‘B…Ben?’ Alex asked cautiously. It certainly looked like Ben to Alex but he had been away from any physical contact with anyone bar André for so long that he couldn’t bring himself to believe it was him.  


Ben began making small steps toward Alex.  


‘No, stop right there! How do I know it’s really you? For all I know you could just be another trick my mind is playing on me!’ Alex said.  


‘It’s me, Alex I swear. I have no reason to lie to you.’ Ben replied softly. He continued to take small steps towards Alex until he was stood right in front of him. ‘It’s gonna be okay. You’re safe now.’  


And just like that Alex collapsed into Ben’s embrace. He couldn’t help it. Ben wrapped his arms softly around Alex and rubbed the boys back. Ben wasn’t sure if it would help but it’s what his mother used to do when Ben needed comforting.  


‘How long has it been?’ Alex asked.  


Ben seemed reluctant to say but he did anyway.  


‘It’s been nearly three months Alex.’ Alex must have had a look of utter shock on his face because Ben quickly followed it with ‘but we never stopped looking for you! As soon as Jones realised you were gone she called me back. And I’ve been looking for you ever since. Every abandoned building. I looked through them all.’  


Alex had no doubt that Ben had never stopped looking for him and thank god he hadn’t or else, there was a real possibility Alex wouldn’t be standing here now.  


‘What about Raoul?’ Alex enquired.  


‘You don’t need to worry about him. He’s been taken care of. For now I think it’s best we get you back to Jack-,’  


‘Jack’s still alive?? I thought she was dead. From Raoul’s virus.’ Alex interrupted.  


‘Of course she’s alive. Nobody died Alex. It was all fake. As far as we can tell Raoul was just a McCain fanatic who, regrettably, just wanted to mess with you. I’m so sorry Alex. When Jones told me I was livid. I promise you she’ll never get the chance to use you again. And if she even tries, she’ll have to get through me first.  


‘So, no more opera then?’ Alex grinned.  


‘No more opera.’ Ben chuckled. ‘C’mon let’s get you home.’


End file.
